Sola Dive 1200 S/F

$400

Sola Dive 1200 S/F USD

$400

"This is one cool dive light. Weighs only 10 ounces, including the battery and hands-free strap, yet it offers a choice of a powerful spot beam or a massive flood beam, each with three power settings."
-SCUBALAB Tester's Choice

Recommended:

We built it here in California and will replace, repair or upgrade it for the life of the product.

Our two year warranty doesn't merely provide you with peace of mind - it begins a conversation: about our commitment to you as a fellow outdoor enthusiast and as a good human being. When you get a Light & Motion product, you also inherit our relentless pursuit of an enhanced experience; the perfect light.

An amazing dive light. Perfect for use high and low visibility water.

Peter Noel

Made in Monterey

Enduro Magazine

L&M is not a large company, and is made up of around 50 full-time
employees, all working under one roof. This gives L&M the ability to
be flexible in an ever-changing market. “We can update products and
innovate much quicker than our competitors,” explains Jacob. “We can
update to a more efficient LED, reprogram our lights or redesign a
mold to improve assembly workflow. Most businesses would have to
wait out an entire season before they could make changes like that”.

It’s advantages like these that keep L&M competitive in the market.
The feel-good factor of buying local can only get you so far in a market
where consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable buying Asian
made products, whether it’s a $100 light or a $6,000 mountain bike.
Like every other brand, L&M has had to innovate to stay ahead of the
curve.

Credit: Will Barret - Enduro Magazine

*Pick up a magazine at your local bike shop to read the full article.

Made in Monterey

EDITOR's CHOICE: Sola Dive…

ScubaGadget.com

The Sola Dive 1200 is a ScubaGadget Editor's Choice Winner.
How can you tell the cold water divers from the holiday divers among a group…

How can you tell the cold water divers from the holiday divers among a group on a tropical dive boat? The cold water divers always bring a dive light with them. All new divers learn the “red drops out of the light spectrum first, etc.” lesson in Scuba 101. But many tropical divers do not carry lights on daytime dives or they carry a small light for “looking in crevices and whole.” But, below a few feet, everything looks better under a dive light. Many divers may only see the true colors shinning through back at home in their underwater flash photos. Tropical or not, I am still amazed at how the colors pop and how that brown turns to brilliant crimson when I have a good dive light. I thought I had learned what a good dive light can do for the dive experience, then we got the Light & Motion Sola Dive 1200… and not be cliché, “but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

The Pacific Northwest is the perfect venue to test dive lights. Our emerald sea nurtures a massive spectrum of plankton feed life that often puts a Caribbean dive to shame. But, in these waters, whether day or night, you can only experience the brilliance of it all with a decent dive light. We have used and tested quite a few lights boasting the full range of powers. But we have never had anything like the Sola Dive. This is a light and compact combination of power and technology that sits on back of your hand and opens up a whole new world of diving.

We found that familiar dive sites, which we have been to dozens of times, now became a brand new experience with the Sola Dive 1200. It is true that a big, old canister light can illuminate point of interest and a massive video light can open up a scene, but the Sola Dive 1200’s hand’s free combination of beam and flood exposes creatures that we previously missed…and with less cost and much more comfort than a canister light.

Wanna have lots of dive buddy’s? Dive a Sola.

After group dives with the Sola Dive 1200, we consistently heard divers ask if they could follow us around on the next dive and watch what appears under our Sola. We have been astounded by the intense interest and response we got when showing this light around. Seasoned divers, tech divers (used to canister lights), photographers, instructors and dive shop owners all seemed to salivate to get one when they see this light.

The Light:
Going over our checklist list of dream options for a dive light, we found that the designers of the Sola Dive 1200 added features that we hadn’t even considered. It is smaller and lighter than almost any normal primary light, easy-to-use, completely sealed and has a non-penetrating magnetic switch – you never open it up. It’s rechargeable – no batteries to buy and easy to charge. You do not open it to charge it.

It, has both spot and flood beams and is BRIGHT. Even though it is a “hands free” light is nearly double the power of any hand held light on the market (as of our testing). And, as Steve Job’s says, one more thing … it can also double as a camera focus and video light. Additionally, it has three color indicator lights adjacent to the switch to keep you explicitly informed of both your current power setting and remaining battery reserves (they also indicate charging or a failure mode on the surface).

We liked the color of the this light too. The light from the Sola Dive 1200 seems to bring out truer or at least more pleasing colors and better contrast that other we have tested.

Controls and Indicators:
All the features of the Dive 1200 are easily controlled by one locking magnetic coupled slider on the top of the body. It is easy to use, even with bulky dry gloves. The one switch controls all 10 functions, which include on, off, a safety SOS mode, switch beams, and three levels for each beam. This may sound overwhelming but it is not. Even during the first dive it was simple and became almost second nature after a few dives.

We were happy that the 1200D also has LED indicators, because you never want to look 1200 lumens in the face to see if its on.

Only half the story…
Those amazing specs still can only hint at an experience that you cannot know without using the Sola Dive 1200.

The flood beam lets us feel like we are carrying the sun with us to any depth. We shine the spot beam on a rock and see a tiny opalescent nudibranch. Flip on the “sun” (the flood beam) and now you see there or 15 of them on that small table. In addition, you may see a baby warbonnet or a lumpsucker that was not visible to your eyes with the spot beam light. On shore dives, during safety stops we “turn on the sun” and enjoy the previously unnoticed microcosm of macro life. Spot or flood, we just see more critters and colors than we ever saw with previous lights.

While schools of frys and baitballs will scatter when hit with any bright spot beam, we found the flood beam of the 1200D does not spook them. We can hang there and get a close up view of the school in full shimmering color.

Bottom Line:
Light and Motion could confidently paraphrase the slogan used by wet/dry suit maker WaterProof, “We would compare our [light] to its competition – if it had any.” We would back them up. There are lots of bright lights, a lot of lightweight lights, a lot of spots and floods, but the nothing like this compact 10 oz. little bundle that puts power of a canister light and a video flood on the back of your hand. For that, we give it our editor’s choice and as many stars as you will see if you accidentally look into this portable sun.

Editor’s Choice – What does it mean
Unlike in other journals, our editor’s choice award is not just a default pick for best among a few tested. For us, “editor’s choice” awards are only given to products which raise the bar and set a high standard for quality and innovation. These are products, that given all available options we personally would and often have purchased and use on our own dives. We rate them as these products as the best choice in the category at any price.

EDITOR's CHOICE: Sola Dive 1200- a dive changing experience

• Industry Review •

The build quality of the new…

Laura James, Atlas Omega

Light & Motion has been known for producing high-end underwater housings and lighting systems for over two decades. Recently, the company…

Light & Motion has been known for producing high-end underwater housings and lighting systems for over two decades. Recently, the company has brought their lights to the center stage of the dive industry by launching a new series of hands-free dive lights, their revolutionary SOLA line of submersible lights.

To build a powerful yet compact dive light from the ground up, Light & Motion made use of their vast knowledge of lighting technology. The result of that labor is a solid, hands-free range of waterproof lights featuring integrated batteries, and is now sold in multiple configurations that serve the diverse needs of videographers, photographers and recreational divers alike.

Design & Construction

The build quality of the SOLA line of submersible lights is nothing short of top grade. The ergonomic construction of the lights has actually made them smaller than some backup lights, weighing them in at a mere 287 grams. The bodies of the SOLA lights are built with a durable, impact-resistant plastic, which makes them lighter, but does not cheapen their feel at all. The aluminum ring around the head of the lights serves as an effective heat sink that can diffuse the built-up heat generated by the beam into the surrounding water.

Light & Motion also makes a locline system, so that the user can exchange the wrist mount for a ball mount and attach the light directly to a video system.

The body measures in around 57mm x 101mm, and houses a sliding magnetic tap switch, which can be locked by a quick quarter-turn to avoid accidental activation. Sliding the switch forward cycles the light output through three varying three levels of brightness. There’s also an illuminated brightness indicator that doubles as a battery life meter. Pulling the tap switch backward switches between spot and flood beams, on all the SOLA DIVE models. To turn the unit off, simply hold the tap switch in the rear position for three seconds.

Integrated Battery

Another feature that most will love (and few might dislike) is the internal, non-user replaceable battery. Light & Motion and many other companies have found that a significant number of problems with their products actually stem from their consumers’ attempts to reassemble the product. Any slight errors can easily result in a partially or completely flooded unit. Light & Motion has taken this issue out of the equation by doing away with the need to deal with lids and o-ring seals. Instead, they provide external connectors for charging the light so it never has to be pried open. The flip side to this is the user can’t make any quick fixes if the battery dies. However, given they are Lithium-ion cells, this shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

Light Output

Despite its diminutive size, the SOLA light packs a considerable punch. With a tiny, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the beam will last for more than 70 minutes at its highest output, and several hours on lower brightness settings, depending on the model. The SOLA has a 75 degree beam angle on the flood setting, and 13 degrees (give or take) for the spot beam.

Simply put, the SOLA line of dive lights from Light & Motion is highly impressive. It is incredibly useful when others need a spare ‘primary’ light for a dive, and with its simple build and airtight ergonomics, divers of any experience level can use it to its full potential. After all, it is much easier to put a Velcro wrist mount on a new diver in a standard BC than a canister light with similar beam quality. Its compact form combined with its extraordinary beam output makes this new SOLA line a game-changing tool for the videography, photography and recreational dive light markets.

The build quality of the new SOLA line of submersible lights is nothing short of top grade.

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Lumen Test

Lumen Test

FL1 Standard: Ready to Go: Light and Motion is the first lighting company to test and certify their lights in accordance with the ANSI/NEMA FL-1 Standard. Using an integrating sphere, the actual lumen or light output and run-time is precisely measured and certified. No more guessing. See for yourself.

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Enhanced Experience Guarantee

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